North Korea: Detained American tourist has 'admitted his crime'

SEOUL — North Korea confirmed on Friday that it had detained an American tourist on charges of perpetrating a crime against the state and said it is putting him through criminal proceedings, indicating it is set to try him.

His custody comes amid tension between Pyongyang and Washington over a recent North Korean rocket launch, which U.S. officials consider a provocative test of ballistic missile technology.

"In the process of investigation, evidence proving that he committed a crime against the DPRK was revealed. He admitted his crime," the state news agency KCNA reported.

KCNA said Swedish Embassy officials had visited Bae on Friday but provided no details of his condition or of the crime he was charged with.

Sweden handles the affairs of U.S. citizens in North Korea because the United States does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), as it is officially known.

According to North Korean law, the punishment for hostile acts against the state is five to 10 years of hard labor.

Kookmin Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper owned by an evangelical church, had said Bae had been arrested for carrying a computer hard disk that contained footage of North Korea executing defectors and dissidents.

U.S. citizens of Korean descent have previously run into trouble in the North. Robert Park, a missionary, was detained after entering the country in late 2009 and said he was tortured for protesting against human rights abuses.

Earlier that year, former president Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang to secure the release of two American journalists who had entered North Korea illegally.